Wednesday, July 06, 2016

Writer's Wednesday: Passion is Everything.

Pink Heart Society regular, Joss Wood, is talking about her passion for writing!

Writing has always
been my passion, my solace, my joy. It was the place I went to as a child when
I didn’t understand the world around me, a world I could create which felt safe
and where I felt understood. As a teenager, writing was my drug of choice.

Over the years I’d
heard about Shikara from my 13 year old daughter; a girl who liked to write.
Because she wasn’t one of my daughter’s closest friends (she has a lot of
friends and sometime its hard to keep up) I have to be honest and tell you that
I didn’t pay too much attention.

Well, I paid attention
last night.

Every year, my daughter’s
school holds a Youth Leadership Course and part of the graduation process is a
formal speech evening. The speeches blew me away. If this is the caliber of
young people who are going to be charge of our country one day, sign me up.
There were speeches about individuality, appreciation, hard work and time.
About enlightenment and tolerance and self confidence. We’re okay, South
Africa. These kids get it.

Then Shikara stood up
and said this…..

Five
years ago, a young girl felt life was merely existence; she hadn’t found
greatness within her being. She felt as if her years were just simply breathing
and blinking, she saw talent possessed by her peers, talent possessed by her
siblings- talent that she did not possess. But not long after she emerged from
her young self and began to mature, her passion had found her;and she had
finally found her true purpose.The girl began to write, allowing her to free her
thoughts from the touch of a pen to the surface of paper.

Thinking
is something that you can never stop doing, even throughout sleep or relief.
Words, for me are a fast flowing river of endless thoughts.

Ladies
and gentlemen I am almost certain that for more than half of you words are
simply a way of communication, understanding but they make the world the way it
is- they give it colour. I hope that I can show you the much of that of the
little they seem to you.

My
one desire for my future life is to create a world of nothing but words. To
write out my heart’s content and have someone seek pleasure through what I’d
created. I am willing to work a life’s worth of effort to reach my dreams which
wait for me upon the silver stars, and I believe that that moment shall be the
moment that I reach defined happiness.

‘The important thing is, no matter who
says what, to be ready at any moment to sacrifice what you are, for what you
could become’ said Charles Dickens and I shall balance on that sentence for the
rest of my life.

Shikara’s speech made
me cry. It made me cry because this is what writing should feel like. When you
step away from the deadlines and the contracts, the money and the rankings,
this is what should remain. It is passion and joy, tasting words, smelling them,
exploring their texture, their essence. It’s the passion felt when there is no
pressure, no demands, just a compulsion to rid yourself of the phrases and
sentences crowding your psyche.

I get that. I get her.

Passion is everything.

Shikara is who I was
too many decades ago. She is passion and purity. I hope that she never stops
writing, that she never loses the desire to embrace the wild side. I hope she
learns the craft, pushes through the self-doubt and perseveres despite the
rejections. I hope she’s brave enough to share herself and the talent with the
world. If she is, I will be the first
person standing in that long queue at her book signing.

Best friends Kai,
Sawyer, and Axl worked hard to make Caswallawn Security the booming
success that it is. As for love, marriage, and commitment, those are way
down on their priority list...

Kai Manning is
unhappy that Caswallawn is making Mercy, Virginia, its permanent
headquarters—he doesn’t understand this quaint, crazy town, and he
doesn’t want to settle down, period. A rough childhood made him fiercely
independent, and he’s determined to rely on nothing and no one. So the
moment he lays eyes on Flick, he knows he’s in trouble...

Local baker Felicity “Flick” Sturgiss is not looking for a man. She’s
done giving her all to relationships that give nothing back. But Kai is
undeniably hot. He may look like bad news, but he’s not going to be in
town for long, and she’s dealing with a lot right now—she deserves to
have some fun.

When a family emergency calls Sawyer away, Kai
must remain in Mercy to hold down the fort. Now, Kai and Flick’s plan
for a quick fling falls to the wayside (just like their torn-off
clothing), leaving them wondering if they can keep their hands—and their
hearts—to themselves...